Railroad rail



F. L. VOEGTLY RAILROAD RAIL July 30, 1929.

INVENTOR i (2/ Filed Feb. 28, 1929 Patented July 30, 1929.

trite stares -arr - 1 ime RAILROAD BAIL.

Application filed February 28, 1929. Serial No. 343,535.

My invention relates to railroad track rails and has for one of itsobjects the provision of a rail structure of such form that tiltingthereof under side thrusts imposed by railwav rolling stock will belargely eliminated, thus reducing the tendency for the outer edge of therail base to become 11nbedded in the cross ties when 1t is placeddirectly upon the ties or to avoid imbedment of the outer ends of tie orfish plates in the tie when such plates are placed beneath the rail.

Another object of my invention is to provide a rail having a base ofsuch form that the tendency toward sliding thereof upon a tie plate,through imposition of side thrusts, will be overcome.

Still another ob ect of my invent on is to simplify and improve railwayrail structures generally. 7

One form which my invention may take is shown in the accompanyingdrawing, wherein Figure 1 is a fragmentary inverted plan view of a railformed accordin to my invention, and Fig. 2 1s a cross sectional View ofthe rail showing it in pos1t1on upon a cross tie. i

The rail is represented generally by the numeral 3 and rests upon a tieplate 4 which is in turn supported by a cross tie 5 n a well-knownmanner. Spikes 6 are driven through holes in the tie plate and serve tohold the rail firmly in position.

However, there is a tendency for rails to tilt in service through sidethrusts of car wheels and locomotive wheels, and particularly to tiltoutward, either on curves or on straightaway track, the outward thrustbeing more pronounced of course at curves in the track.

The head and the web of the rail may be of any well-known shape, but Iform a plurality of longitudinal recesses upon the underside of the railbase, thus producing the ribs 7, 8, 9 and 10. The recess between theribs 8 and 9 is directly beneath the web of the rail and is of greaterwidth than the thickness of the webb, and embraces the point about whichthe ordinary plane bottom rail tends to tilt or rock.

The tilting action referred to becomes aggravated during continued useof the rail, until finally the outer edge of the rail base, if no tieplate is employed. or the outer end of the tie plate, will graduallybecome imbedded in the wooden tie 5, thus permitting the rail to lie ina displaced position and increasing the tendency for it tobe tiltedstill further, even by the imposition of vertical loads, since the usualvertical line of support through the web has been shifted.

Furthermore, the pressure of wheel flanges tends to slide the raillaterally upon the tie plate 4, against the resistance of the outerspike 6, thus aggravating the abnormal condition created by the tendencyof the rail to tilt under wheel thrusts.

By relieving that portion of the rail between the ribs 8 and 9, thetendency of the rail to rock about its vertical center line is greatlyreduced, since the,*tilting forces are resisted byt-he ribs 8 and 9, andalso by the V ribs 7 and 10. The ribs are of such width that they willafford adequate vertical support for the rail and the grooves providethe necessary relief at various points which is required in some caseswhere there may be slight unevenness on the bottom of the rail bases orin the tie plate, which unevenness of course will in many cases resultin the rocking movement of the rail, the outward thrust resultin fromsaid rockingmovement tending to imbed the outer end of the tie plate 4in the cross tie, and su zh rocking movement increasing as the railbecomes loosened upon its support, thus increasing the thrusts upon theouter portion of the tie plate.

The ribs 7, 8, 9 and 10 are formed with sharp corners, so that they willtend to bite into the tie plate upon imposition 0t load on the rail andimpingement of wheel flanges thus resisting tendency of the rail toslide upon the tie plate.

Ordinarily, the ribs 7, 8, 9 and 10 will extend the full length of therail, thus :tacilitating the shaping of the rail, and also rendering itunnecessary to accurately space the ties in order to insure that theywill lie beneath the ribs.

I claim as my invention 1. A railro-ad traclr rail having a plurality ofribs uponv its underside, the said ribs being of rectangular form incross section and extending longitudinally of the rail.

2. A railroad track. rail having ribs upon its underside, one rib lyingadjacent to each edge of the rail base, and each rib being ofrectangular form in cross section.

3. A railroad track rail having ribs upon its underside, one rib lyingadjacent to each edge of the rail base, each rib being of rectangularform in cross section, and another rib of rectangular form intermediatethe first-named ribs.

4. A railroad track rail having two pairs of longitudinallyextendingribs upon its underside, the innermost ribs of each pair being spacedapart a distance greater than 10 the thickness -of the Web of the rail,and the outermost ribs lying adjacent to the edges of the rail base andeach being of rectangular form in cross section.

In testimony whereof I, the said FRANK 15" L. VOEGTLY, have hereunto setmy hand.

FRANK L. VOEGTLY.

